Drag Queen Ball Culture
Gender urban culture and the making of the gay male world 1890 1940.
Drag queen ball culture. We enlist the help of some of cape town s sickening drag queens to school you on the drag dictionary. There s a moment in paris is burning the seminal documentary about new york s drag ball scene of the 1980s in which the late legendary drag queen dorian corey refers with a faintly. Over the last couple of years rupaul s reality tv show rupaul s drag race has become a global phenomenon and as a result queer slang colloquialisms and phrases have permeated popular culture in fact a number of the gender bending contestants and rupaul herself have. Crystal who was well respected in the drag community had won a queen of the ball title at an event organized by white queens despite how difficult and rare it was for queens of color at the time.
Oliver stabbe is a former intern in the division of medicine and science and an undergraduate student at the university of rochester. By one estimate cited in the seminal book on early drag queen culture mother camp the united states was home to about 500 regularly performing drag queens by july 1966 source. New york city is the epicenter of the world s drag ball culture. Newton that was also the same year stage legend jim bailey first wowed audiences with his spot on embodiment of judy garland but bailey would balk at being lumped in with a drag queen headcount source.
Underground ball culture while still prominent as a subculture has also come into the mainstream eye through tv shows and drag clubs. Cross dressing balls had existed in the city since the 1920s consisting of primarily white men. Ryan murphy s compelling new series pose puts a spotlight on the ball culture of the 1980s the fx drama airing on sunday nights offers a brief exploration into how new york city s lgbtq youth. Drag as an art form has exploded largely thanks to the life and career of rupaul andre charles arguably the most famous drag queen in the world today.
Two drag queens wearing classy pearls subtle makeup and marcel waves. Ball culture was first captured and shown to a mainstream audience in jennie livingston s documentary paris is burning 1990. Years later another drag queen named lottie asked crystal to help promote a ball in harlem specifically for black queens. For more information about the early drag ball scene the author recommends george chauncey s gay new york.
The process of underground balls seeping into mainstream culture can be understood by examining the career of drag queen rupaul.